E-Paper
1,140 Manipuris stranded in Chennai head home in special train
The train is expected to arrive at Jriibam, Manipur’s railhead on Tuesday.
A special train carrying 1,140 people from Manipur, who were stranded in Chennai due to the lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19 is on its way to the northeastern state, officials said on Monday.
According to Manipur’s Covid-19 common control room sources here, this non-stop train which left Chennai on Sunday evening was scheduled to arrive at Jiribam which is Manipur’s only railway station, 220 km west of Imphal, on May 12.
“But we cannot say the exact timing of the arrival as of now (in view of the recent gas leak incident at Visakhapatnam),” an official of the control room said.
Also read: Report 90 minutes in advance and other rules as limited trains start tomorrow
“A second special train is scheduled to leave Bengaluru on May 14,” the official said. The second train is expected to bring about 1,200 stranded people of the state.
On May 9, the state consultative committee for Covid-19 in its meeting had decided those returning by the trains will undergo 14 days of compulsory quarantine at government and community quarantine centres after their arrival.
The state government will be sending 50 buses from Imphal to pick up those returnees while authorities of Jiribam district where the rail head is located, is setting up separate screening counters, sources said.
In case the train arrives late in the evening, the screening may be done inside the coaches and the passengers shall stay in the train overnight till the arrangement is made for bus movement early in the morning, according to a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the state government to facilitate smooth transport and screening of stranded people of the state.
Since the trains are run on non-stop mode from station of origin to station of destination, the first priority would be given to locations where the number of stranded people is sufficient to run a train, the SOP said.
